Reading Challenge, Book 4

The fourth book of Tim Challies’ reading challenge for 2019 is “a book targeted at the opposite gender.” Having just read a Michael Kruger book, I went to a book by his wife Melissa: The Envy of Eve (Christian Focus, 2012). Okay, the relationship isn’t the reason I chose this book out of all the excellent options in my own wife’s reading stack. I heard an interview with Melissa Kruger several years ago when the book first came out, and I’ve been meaning to get to it since then. Also, I try to build theology on a Genesis 1-3 foundation, so the title has always attracted me.

                                                                                        

Kruger’s style is easy to read. She includes illustrations and “case studies,” but they don’t overwhelm or dominate the content of the book. The structure of the book is clear, centered around Kruger’s outline of the progression of coveting. By the end of the book, you have memorized this outline since it’s woven into every chapter. The book focuses on scriptural examples, and helpfully analyzes the failures and successes (spiritually-speaking) shown in the text. There’s no painful and alien meaning imposed on the passages.

Contentment is a rare thing in this world, and we are programmed to be discontent and led toward coveting in a million different ways every day. It is important to be purposeful in self-assessing ourselves and tracing the root coveting in so many of our conflicts, dissatisfactions, motivations, etc. This book does a good job equipping the reader toward that goal.

A few gems:

• “…our inordinate desires are never solved by attainment…our greatest malady is not our set of circumstances, but the blindness and hardness that overtakes our hearts…our difficult circumstances and places of longing are not cause to covet, but are God’s invitation to come and find life in Him alone…we must accept that our covetous desires arise because of our sin, not our situations” (pg. 25,26).

• Coveting “is an inward sin pattern, not an outward circumstance” (pg. 28).

• “Our lack of contentment primarily flows from unbelief regarding God’s sovereignty and goodness in our lives” (pg. 48).

• “Coveting is desiring anything other than God in a way that betrays a loss of contentment and satisfaction in Him. Covetousness is a heart divided between two gods. So Paul calls it idolatry” (pg. 49). Paul says this in Colossians 3:5.

• “Place any earthly jewel beside the treasure found in Christ and it will appear as but dust. Our coveting exposes that we have set our hearts upon earthly gain. The more we seek our treasure outside of Christ, the more we falsely believe that God is lacking in His goodness to us. Essentially, our coveting accuses God of a failure to reign well over the events in our lives” (pg. 56).

• “…we begin to equate God’s goodness with how often He gives us what we want” (pg. 58). I wrote in the margin that this is a Gospel-denying mindset.

• “…coveting reveals our unbelief about our citizenship. Our persistent desire to gain life here and to acquire all that this world has to offer reveals our belief that this life is the destination, rather than a journey to our final home” (pg. 62).

• “Satan wants us to believe that we cannot control what we long after or that if we have a longing, it must be good, in spite of God’s instruction…although we cannot always choose what we see, we can choose what we set our heart upon” (pg. 75).

• “Being part of a church is more than just attending; it includes membership and regular participation in the sacraments” (pg. 107).

• “As Christians, we are called to obedience not just in how we live, but also in what we think about” (pg. 111).

• “The best way to take off the tendency to complain is to put on thankfulness. Each day we must actively choose to see what God has provided. Once we begin to look at our life through these lenses and focus our eyes on His goodness to us, our hearts will flow thanksgiving instead of complaining. Our outward grumbling is a sure sign of inner coveting” (pg. 134).

• “Being in the church does not mean that we will be insulated from painful relationships. However, it is our only hope for establishing healthy ones” (pgs. 190-191).

• “Their eyes feared the next season, despaired in their current season and incorrectly remembered the previous season. Their inner unbelief allowed them to interpret all their circumstances without hope in the Lord’s ability to fulfill all His promises” (pg. 203).

The discussion questions at the end of each chapter are substantial, and often contain additional material supplemental to the chapter. This book would be really beneficial to and lends itself to a small-group setting.

In speaking to a brother in Christ about reading this book, he asked how it was different because a woman wrote it. I told him the style is more relational. This isn’t to say it’s any less deep or wise than a man’s writing (the content is really good!), but that it’s just different. Different is good.

On a peripheral note, I am grateful to God that in recent years He has raised up so many solid, powerful sisters in the faith to write and teach fellow sisters. I grieve at how much shallow material is produced and marketed toward Christian women. It is a relief to have depth in writers/teachers like Melissa Kruger. As a pastor, I have said the following several times when congregants ask for my evaluation of some popular women’s teacher: “There are many better options. My sisters can do better. They must do better.”

(I was grateful that, when it came time to read “a book targeted at the opposite gender,” my bride had a great library from which to choose. The only downside – for her – is that I read books with a highlighter and pen…reading this book will be, for her, a big “your husband was here” sign.)